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NEWS BRIEFS
• Great to watch the Ducks do their thing at the Rose Bowl game that left a lot of us
without fingernails. One of the most entertaining moments was the fourth-quarter
fumble recovery by Duck Michael Clay right in front of Chip Kelly on the sidelines. The
excited coach was bouncing up and down like a Jack Russell terrier. The guy’s got
legs. Congrats to the whole team for a memorable season.
• Protesting Councilor George Poling at his family’s residence (twice so far) might
have seemed like a good idea at the time, and we can all use a stimulating dose of
mid-winter nudity, but the predictable media focus on fear and intimidation made this
particular action polarizing, and the message about Poling’s objections to a warming
fire at Occupy Eugene was lost. One useful thing that’s come from all this is a lively
discussion on the OE online forum on what constitutes an effective action, under the
topic of “Who else can we piss off to help the homeless?” And a related issue that
traditionally divides activists: Can we restore economic and social justice within the
system, or do we need to tear down the system? Another question might be was the
topless protest “terrorism” as Poling claimed? Weigh in at http://wkly.ws/15k and
send a letter to the editor. Meanwhile, we got a note from one EW reader saying, “If
they show up at my house, they can show me their tits all they want. Just stay off of
my lawn!” Everyone has their limits.
• The Eugene City Council approved expansion of St. Vincent de Paul’s Car Camping
Program, as we reported on our blog in December, but the expansion has gotten little
attention in the media. Terry McDonald, executive director of St. Vinnies, says the
program can use more donations of campers, trailers, pop-ups, vans, cars and trucks
that can be used to shelter homeless campers who were evicted from Occupy Eugene.
Before the program was expanded, St. Vinnie’s managed 50 campers in 29 sites,
including the parking lot near the Science Factory and Cuthbert Theater. “One of our
great hopes is that everyone will have a permanent home in the next few years,” says
McDonald. Call Roxann at the Lindholm Center, 607-0439, if you can help with cash, a
vehicle donation, or provide space on your property.
• As we go to press this week we hear that an appeal was filed Jan. 3 with the
Oregon Court of Appeals regarding Circuit Court Judge Thomas Carlson’s adverse
ruling on the effort to take county redistricting to the voters. “By the time the
judgment was entered, it was too late to try to salvage the referendum by any legal
means,” says attorney David C. Force. “So now the case will be about whether Lane
County’s charter and ordinances, guaranteeing a right to referendum petitions and
elections on redistricting ordinances, are unenforceable as Carlson concluded.”
Force tells us if the Court of Appeals agrees with Carlson that “any
three commissioners can prevent referendum challenges to their ordinances, then
the people of Lane County need to take a look at amending the charter to make all
five commissioners accountable to the voters of the whole county.”
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard
any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
PROTECT THE
ENDANGERED
SNAIL MAIL
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor
gloom of night stays these couriers from
the swift completion of their appointed
rounds,” is not the U.S. Post Office’s
official creed, though most people think
it is. And it turns out that it’s not the
weather that could stop the mail from
coming — or coming on time — it’s
finances.
In December the U.S. Postal Service
recommended that mail distribution
centers in Salem, Pendleton, Bend and
Springfield’s Gateway location be
closed and have their work picked up by
Portland’s facility. In other words a
letter mailed from Eugene to Springfield
would first have to go a hundred miles
up I-5 to Portland before coming back
south to be delivered.
The USPS also recommended that
first-class delivery be slowed down by a
day or so, and that a number of small,
rural post offices be closed, including,
Deadwood, Swisshome and Walton in
Lane County’s Coast Range, and Agness
in Curry County to the south. These are
all part of cost-saving measures for a
postal service billions of dollars in debt.
There has also been discussion of
dropping Saturday mail delivery.
Residents of these rural communities
were among the participants in an
Occupy the Post Office statewide day of
action. In Deadwood, a community with
a population of less than 200, at least 80
people turned out for the Dec. 19 rally,
including a team of draft horses — the
“Deadwood Pony Express.” Walton had
a turnout of about 20, and that included
several Occupy tents that were pitched
as part of the protest.
Agness has since been taken off the
closure list, so residents no longer need
to fear driving 70 miles round-trip for
postal services.
Some point fingers at the internet,
email and social media for the postal
woes, but others say the Postal Service’s
financial crisis also stems from the
Postal Accountability and Enhancement
Act passed by Congress in 2006 that
forces the USPS to prefund employee
retirement benefits at $5.5 billion a
year. The funding cutbacks in postal
services benefit private mail carriers,
such as FedEx and UPS, but private
carriers are not inclined to serve
unprofitable small-population, rural
areas.
Congressman Peter DeFazio has
introduced two pieces of legislation to
help solve the financial issues facing the
USPS: HR 3591, Postal Service
Protection Act and HR 3592, Protecting
Rural Post Office Act. Sen. Jeff Merkely
has introduced companion legislation to
HR 3592 in the Senate.
— Camilla Mortensen
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